Vietnam Court Opens Trial Over More Than 1.27 Million Suspected Counterfeit Fire Extinguishers
A Hanoi court opened the trial of nine defendants on November 11 in a counterfeit fire extinguisher case. According to the indictment, two companies sold more than 1.27 million extinguishers involved in the case, and personnel paid more than 17 billion Vietnamese dong in bribes to obtain quality certificates.
On the morning of November 11, 2026, the Hanoi People's Court opened the trial of nine defendants in a counterfeit fire extinguisher case. They face charges related to producing and selling counterfeit goods, accepting bribes and falsification in official duties. The trial is expected to last three days. According to the indictment, Vietlink and An Phú sold a combined total of more than 1.27 million fire extinguishers involved in the case.
The case began with a complaint from a Hanoi buyer on September 17, 2025. The buyer had purchased nearly 64 million Vietnamese dong worth of Dragon fire extinguishers and found that they failed to put out a fire as indicated on their labels. Preliminary testing found that the extinguishers submitted for examination did not contain the fire-extinguishing ingredients listed on their packaging. Police subsequently searched factories and warehouses in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Tây Ninh, seizing extinguishers, raw materials and equipment. The 135,395 powder extinguishers seized were valued at more than 41.4 billion Vietnamese dong.
Fire extinguishers involved in the case seized during the investigation.（VietVance）
According to the indictment, Vietlink began importing substandard fire-extinguishing powder, cylinders and components in 2019 to manufacture extinguishers in Vietnam. It produced and sold 1,049,875 units, generating more than 344 billion Vietnamese dong in revenue. In December 2024, the related production and business operations were transferred to An Phú. In 2025, An Phú sold 226,568 Dragon extinguishers, generating more than 117 billion Vietnamese dong; it also sold 1,392 extinguishers under the 990 brand, generating more than 561 million Vietnamese dong.
In the product inspection process, prosecutors allege that Vietlink personnel paid more than 17 billion Vietnamese dong in bribes from June 2023 to obtain quality certificates. Phạm Đức Cảnh, the former head of a firefighting construction unit under the Ho Chi Minh City police, received more than 14 billion Vietnamese dong. Two personnel at Phương Nam received more than 2 billion and 160 million Vietnamese dong, respectively. Investigators also found that, from late 2022 through 2024, personnel issued calibration certificates without conducting the required work for 302 instances of inspection equipment, collecting more than 353 million Vietnamese dong.
Source: VietVance
